I can assure you that this will never be something that I am arrested for. This is unbelievable. I may be accused of a lot of things, but this will never, ever, ever, be one of them.

Well, exactly one week from today my lovely wife Tracy and I will jump in our minivan (I know, I’m getting old) and make the 8 hour drive to Indianapolis, Indiana. Normally I prefer to fly, and it’s become cheaper than paying mileage, but since we are leaving after the convention to head to Wilmington, NC for my brother’s wedding, this year we’ll make the drive.

I’m excited about this year’s convention for a number of reasons. One of the chief reasons I’m excited is that I will have the privilege of serving this year on the Committee on Committees. This will be my first experience serving on the national level. I’m one of those strange individuals who gets a kick out of serving on committees so this should be an enjoyable and educational experience.

I’m also very excited this year as I watch what happens with the Presidential election. Two years ago I was thrilled to watch as Frank Page won the election on a first ballot to become the President of the SBC. This year I am convinced that it will take a second ballot for a candidate to to receive the necessary 51% approval. Nonetheless I am very encouraged to see a number of qualified Southern Baptists all placing their name into nomination to serve as our President. It’s indicative of an increased level of involvement from people who previously would not have been engaged in the process, and for that I’m grateful. I’ve had the privilege of meeting 4 of the 6 candidates but have not yet met Frank Cox or William Wagner. I count one of the candidates, Les Puryear, to be a very good friend and I could be satisfied with a number of the candidates being elected.

That being said, my vote will be cast for Avery Willis. I mentioned earlier that I had the privilege of building his website that conveys his desire for the SBC as well as his track record of success to this point. I would encourage you to run over and take a look at it. Beyond that, Avery has recently responded to a written interview request from Baptist Press that is very enlightening. I would strongly encourage you to read that interview as well as the interviews with each of the other candidates. I am convinced that Avery’s passion, track record, humility and plan is in line with what our convention needs to become an effective, Kingdom growing organization again.

Finally, I’m looking forward to Indy as I will get the privilege of spending a week with my wife without any children. I love my children more than my own life, but as anyone who has toddlers can tell you, they can be a bit draining at times when it comes to quality time with your spouse. Although the convention is a very, very busy time for me, I’m looking forward to enjoying it together with Tracy. This should be the longest amount of time we’ve had together, without children, since Grace was born almost 5 years ago. We’ve got our reservations set for the University Place Conference Center and Hotel and we’re excited about getting there.

Oh, and one more thing, one of the more enjoyable experiences of SBC gatherings since I started this blog 3 or 4 years ago now, has been meeting many of you who read this. Since you can see my picture at the top of the blog (I’m sorry about that, it’s not really nice of me to subject you to it, I know), if you see me introduce yourself. I’ve already received correspondence from a number of you who will be there and I’m looking forward to getting together in person. So, please take a moment to stop us and introduce yourself to Tracy and me. It would be a privilege to meet many of you.

David Dockery has recently written a fantastic book called “Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal“. I enjoyed having the opportunity to read it over the past couple of days.

Dockery is the President of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee and the former Dean of the School of Theology and Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. This book is an effort on Dockery’s behalf to propose a path for Southern Baptists to take which will lead to a renewed sense of unity and cooperation. Through the use of history, both Baptist and Theological, Dockery establishes an understandable foundation to describe how we got to where we are today. Through the use of easy to understand writing, however, Dockery also proposes a series of steps that we can take to build a new consensus. In a bit of a sense, this book is a response to the efforts of those involved in the recent “New Baptist Covenant” while at the same time retaining some of the necessary Biblical parameters that make us Southern Baptists.

If you are a pastor or layman who believes that there is hope that our SBC can be even greater in the future than she has been in the past, this book should be on your short list of books to read. I would strongly encourage you to pick this up and enjoy.

Following up on the book release, Dockery has also participated in an interview as well. I would recommend that you consider listening to the interview if you have opportunity as well. You can do so by clicking here.

**UPDATE** Dr. Pollock and his son have been found. They did not survive the crash of their private airplane. Please be in prayer for the Pollock family.

Please pray for Pastor Forrest Pollock, of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, FL. Pastor Pollock was flying his private airplane along with his 13 year old son, Preston, and he never arrived at his intended destination. They believe they have found the emergency transmitter signal in North Carolina and are currently searching. Please pray diligently for Pastor Pollock, Preston as well as his wife and his 5 additional children.

Updates on the search can be found at the church website, located here.

The information regarding this year’s Missional Network Gathering was released recently. It looks like, as usual, it will feature some of the great thinkers in our convention. I’ve been at each of the events held at the annual meeting that they’ve sponsored since the Missional Network was formulated in Greensboro two years ago. I am very excited about the lineup of speakers. Kerry Shook, Brian Bloye, Daniel Floyd & Shawn Lovejoy promise to deliver. On top of all that it’s being held at Bucca de Beppo, which we have in Kansas City, and which offers stellar Italian cuisine. I’m not going to be able to be there this year as I’ll be in another meeting at the time, but if you are free I would highly recommend that you sign up to attend. The cost is minimal but space is limited so sign up quickly. To sign up or get more info, click here.

HT: Timmy Brister

New research came out today that highlighted a recent SBC trend away from baptisms. [click here] Oh, we still say that they are important, and we still communicate that we’re an evangelistic denomination, but the truth is that we are not. No, today we are more known for which side of the methodological fences we stand on than we are known for our passion for connecting disconnected people with the Gospel.

Ed Stetzer has written a great article detailing what these statistics mean for our convention. I would highly encourage you to read his thoughts. You can do so by clicking here. In his article, Stetzer makes a tremendous statement, but one which I predict will not be kindly received by everyone. He says,

The Conservative Resurgence failed to produce a Great Commission Resurgence. It restored our denomination’s value of Scripture but application is often absent, at least in the area of evangelism.

Stetzer is absolutely right. Our battle for the priority of scripture was absolutely necessary. If we are not a people who believe in the supremacy and innerancy of God’s word, we are nothing in my opinion. Having said that, right belief means nothing if it is not accompanied by right action. In other words, orthodoxy must be partnered with orthopraxy for it to be beneficial. Our convention, and the churches that make up her number, claim a great commitment to God’s word. We are proud of our positions. We are so strongly tied to them that the word “innerancy” has almost become our club’s secret password without which one cannot serve. Now, I do not want to diminish innerancy at all, but if our behavior doesn’t link hands with our belief, what good is our belief?

It’s time that we heed well the other words of Stetzer and rally around the gospel. Frank Page’s words from his initial election as SBC president should be embraced. It’s beyond time that people know us for what we are for, rather than simply know us for what we are against. We are for the gospel. We are for the sufficiency of Christ on behalf of those who are separated from the Gospel due to sin. We are for people experiencing grace, hope and forgiveness through the cross of Christ.

In my own town, here in St. Joseph, MO, we have a population of 105,000 in the metro area. Of that number approximately 80,000 are in a group that I refer to as “disconnected”. In other words, they are either unchurched, dechurched or are not involved in the church that they claim to belong to. My passion in life is to help connect those 80,000 disconnected people with the gospel. Our church specifically must do whatever it takes to accomplish that task. Up to this point, we are not fulfilling that task as we should.

Each person reading this post lives in a city or area where the majority of the population does not appear to have an active relationship with Jesus Christ. Our charge must be to somehow connect them with the Gospel. Beyond that, it is time we think creatively about ways to effectively do so. So many of our churches are convinced that if they can just hold another revival meeting, and beat on a few more doors, that will do the trick. Statistics are also bearing out that those methods are simply not seeing success. When we become desperate to fulfill the task that God has given us, we will throw off any unsuccessful efforts and continue to work until we find more effective ways to engage people with the Gospel.

Someone asked me the other day how our church, Frederick Boulevard, was doing. I told them honestly that attendance and finances are at an all time high but that I was disappointed right now. When asked why I shared that our baptisms are plateaued at the same place they were last year. We may have seen a few more, but not many. I’ve shared the gospel with a number of people lately, but I haven’t shared with enough. I’m afraid that too often it’s easy for us to become satisfied in our churches. We want to reach other people as long as we can continue to be happy. The truth is, maybe it’s time that we become uncomfortable for the gospel. Maybe it is time that we step outside of our usual pattern so that our neighbors who don’t know Christ can respond to His grace. Maybe it’s time that we get desperate to complete the task God has given us.

I’m afraid that if we don’t the downward spiral that we are seeing today, will only be the tip of the iceberg.

If you are a ministry leader Facebook for Pastors is an exciting new resource that you need to add to your library! Chris Forbes, also known as the Ministry Marketing Coach, has put together this short, 31 page book to walk pastors and church leaders through the process of using Facebook in their ministry settings. The best thing about the book is that it is available as a FREE download!

Chris is a friend who writes most of the book but also uses the help of a few other ministry personnel that are already using Facebook in ministry to add to his thoughts. I had the privilege of lending an article to the book.

I’ve been using Facebook for well over a year or two now and have found it to be an incredible resource in ministry.

Chris posted this description of the book on his site.

How to build relationships and connect with people using the most popular social network on the Internet. This 32 page e-book will help Pastors and other ministry leaders make the most of this great networking tool.

• How to make the most of your profile information
• Tips for Networking with People in Facebook
• All about groups, messages, poking, etc
• Brand Your Ministry
• Meet prospects for your church
• Learn more about the members in your church
• Fine tune your communication skills
• Testimonies from Pastors who use FaceBook
• and much more!

Get the e-book here free using this link: Facebook for Pastors E-Book
(PC users, right clink and select “Save As” for best results)